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7"
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BE 017-5EP
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Two previously lost gems from the 1985 sessions that produced one of the key albums in Japanese underground music, the Hallelujahs' psychedelic pop masterpiece Eat Meat Swear and Oath (肉を喰らひて誓ひをたてよ). The first, "Pie-Para-Para," bounces and bops in a dreamlike haze and could comfortably sit beside anything on the LP. Written by guitarist Naoki Zushi (Hijokaidan, Idiot O'Clock), it features two guitar solos, with Shinji Shibayama (Nagisa Ni Te) up first, jagged, fuzzed and loose followed by Zushi himself closing out with a trademark electric guitar freak-out. Inexplicably, this is the only known recording of the song. The B-Side, the wistful "Star," had been included on the LP but here has an even more gorgeously ethereal air with a different mix that includes previous unheard choral harmonies. Cut and 45 RPM housed in a full color sleeve and includes a hand sealed and stamped envelope containing seven full color photographs of the band members taken during the 1984-1986 Hallelujahs studio sessions.
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LP
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BE 017LP
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2023 restock. Reissue, originally released in 1986. A dreamlike dispatch from mid-80s Japan, the first and only Hallelujahs album is an entrancing and gentle work of psychedelic pop brilliance. In a series of informal studio sessions between 1985 and 1986, Shinji Shibayama (Nagisa Ni Te) gathered a group of friends, emerging luminaries from the burgeoning Kansai underground rock scene including Naoki Zushi (Hijokaidan, Spiral Stairs / 螺旋階段), Ken Ichi "Idiot" Takayama (Idiot O'Clock), and Chie Mukai (Ché-SHIZU) to form what would become known as Hallelujahs. The result was a music of deep feeling and wonderment created through simple song craft and imbued with a sort of guileless magic. Their sole album presented a set of unvarnished songs, filled with vulnerable, intimate moments, caught on reel to reel, most often in single takes never to be repeated. The album was self-released in 1986 in a micro-edition of 300 copies. It was the first record by Shibayama's now revered ORG Records which would go on to introduce the world to the likes of Maher Shalal Hash Baz, Reiko Kudo as well as his own group, Nagisa Ni Te. With affinities to the sounds of the Rough Trade and Flying Nun labels, the Paisley Underground and Galaxie 500, the Hallelujahs' Eat Meat, Swear an Oath is an utterly unique masterpiece that remains a touchstone for generations of like spirited artists in Japan and around the world. Black Editions is proud to present this all-time classic in a deluxe vinyl edition, remastered from the original tapes and presented in a heavy tip-on jacket with textured paper, mounted high quality print, foil stamped finishes and spot colors. Pressed to high quality vinyl at RTI.
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